Weekend Preview: comic books and combat vets

It is an eclectic array of funness on the calendar this weekend, from shows to talks about comic books to everything in between.

First on tap is a traveling stage reading of “Last of the Boys” by Steven Dietz. The story centers on a gaggle of Vietnam veterans coming to terms with the lingering questions about the war and their actions during and after the shots were fired. The moving and darkly funny gig is a collaboration between Northwest Playwrights Alliance and University of Puget Sound Theatre Arts, to benefit the Dragoon Raiders Soldier and Family Fund.
The show’s playbill includes Marilyn Bennett, Scott C. Brown and Bryan K. Bender, some of the best actors in the South Sound.

The show takes to the Wheelock Student Center at UPS at 7 p.m. today and at
9:30 p.m. Friday at Tacoma Little Theatre.

Also tonight is a lecture by “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” author Art Spiegelman. The graphic novel about a man’s struggled in a Nazi prison camp and life after his release not only went on to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize but revive the whole genre.

Spiegelman will present “What The %@&*! Happened To Comics?” at 7 p.m. today at Liberty Theater, 116 W. Main Ave., Puyallup. Tickets are just $12.

For something a little different than a night in front of the tube, go to The Grand Cinema’s annual Academy Award Party, hosted by Tacoma City Councilmember Marty Campbell, maestro Gavin Guss and Quinton Loyne-Packard. The party starts 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 to $18.

Sure the sun will be out most of the weekend, but fun can be found all over.